European Qualifications Framework EQF, Learning Outcomes and ECTS

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European Qualifications Framework (EQF),
Learning Outcomes and ECTS

• Be-TWIN project meeting
• 15 June 2009
• vera.stastna_at_ruk.cuni.cz

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European qualification frameworks

• Two frameworks created independently on each
  other
• Overarching framework for Qualifications in EHEA
  (QF- EHEA)
• Adopted in 2005 in Bergen ministers responsible
  for HE
• Based on Dublin descriptors
• 3 cycles - only HEIs within the 1st cycle the
  possibility of a short cycle
• European Qualification Framework for Lifelong
  Learning (EQF-LLL) European Union/European
  Commission
• Recommendation of the European Council and
  European Parliament from 23 April 2008
• 8 levels the whole education system (last three
  levels correspond with the three cycles)
• Developed within VET

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Why the European overarching framework of
qualifications in higher education?

• Restructuralisation of degree programmes within
  Bologna Process
• Communication between the national systems of
  (HE) education mutual understanding
  (translation) entry ticket into European
  Area (EHEA)
• Support of diversification of the study offer
• transparency
• Permeability horizontal as well as vertical
• Attractiveness growing competition for students
• One methodology for the whole Europe the
  description of qualifications is based on
  learning outcomes (LOs), it means outputs not
  inputs
• LOs describe
• What the graduate knows,
• What he understands,
• What he can perform after the end of studies
• Support of LLL concept methodology which can be
  used for recognition of parts of studies and
  validation of prior learning informal and non
  formal

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• Any advantages of the QF-EHEA/EQF LLL can become
  reality only if there are national frameworks for
  qualifications established and the relation
  between the national levels and European levels
  have been clearly defined, described and
  validated in a trustful, internationally
  recognised way.

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National qualification framework

• National qualification framework means an
  instrument for the classification of
  qualifications according to a set of criteria for
  specified levels of learning achieved, which aims
  to integrate and coordinate national
  qualifications subsystems and improve the
  transparency, access, progression and quality of
  qualifications in relation to the labour market
  and civil society
• Recommendation on the establishment of EQF-LLL,
  2008

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(No Transcript)
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European QF learning paths or learning
curve?

• Need of coordination at EHEA level
• Coordination group
• Network of national QF coordinators?
• Web page
• Need coordination QF-EHEA and EQF-LLL
• Diploma Supplement/Europass

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National qualification system

• National qualification system means all aspects
  of a Member State's activity related to the
  recognition of learning and other mechanisms that
  link education and training to the labour market
  and civil society. This includes the development
  and implementation of institutional arrangements
  and processes relating to quality assurance,
  assessment and the award of qualifications. A
  national qualifications system may be composed of
  several subsystems and may include a national
  qualifications framework
• Recommendation on the establishment of EQF-LLL,
  2008

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National qualification framework (NQF) and
national qualification system (NQS)

• NQF will cover both existing European QFs
• Describes and creates a framework for all levels
  of tertiary education to make clear the
  differences e.g. between
• Post-secondary and tertiary
• Between levels/cycles of tertiary /higher
  education
• More transparency and permeability
• Between degree programmes (vertical as well as
  horizontal)
• Between sectors of education
• Within NQS connection between the degree
  programmes and job qualifications
• HEIs more understandable for wider public
  (students, employers) attractiveness
• Establishing cooperation with employers
• New possibilities for recognition of prior
  learning (non-formal and informal)
• NQF and NQS self certified against QF-EHEA
  /referenced towards EQF LLL stated in the
  Diploma Supplement/Europass
• Draft Leuven Communiqué April 2009 self
  certified NQFs by 2012

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National descriptors Czech example - work in
progress

• Information function
• 3 levels
• General (common for all fields of tertiary
  education at a certain level) involve
• Dublin descriptors
• EQF-LLL descriptors
• Both academic and practical approach
• sectoral for a cluster of fields at a certain
  level of qualification.
• Working groups possibility to use the existing
  sectoral councils (representatives of employers)
• At institutional level based on sectoral
  descriptors- degree programmes descriptors
  i.e." learning outcomes
• What qualification at which level of the NQS and
  QF-EHEA resp. EQF-LLL will the HEIs state in the
  Diploma Supplement

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NQF learning outcomes (1)

• Emphases on learning outcomes can help to
  evaluate how the restructuralisation of studies
  within the Bologna Process has been done
• Do we not teach the same in several different
  degree programmes?
• Do we reflect the labour market and/or needs of
  the society?
• The ECTS credits will be subordinated to
  learning outcomes
• New inputs for quality evaluation of degree
  programmes.

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NQF learning outcomes (2)

• LOs defined together with application sphere
• Innovation of degree programmes
• Diversification of study offer
• If applicable some modules might become
  qualification (partial qualification) which the
  employers recognise
• Decrease of drop out the non-successful
  students gain partial qualification which the
  employers recognise
• Better financial efficiency and effectiveness

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NQF learning outcomes (3)

• NQF and most probably NQS will influence the
  documentation for accreditation, QA (internal as
  well as external)
• Cooperation with employers possibility of
  having modules recognised, added to NQS
• Possibilities for recognition of prior learning
  possibility of new audience (new funding) for
  e.g. partial qualifications
• Less administration one description for
  multiple purposes accreditation, degree
  programmes offer, LLL offer, databases for
  admission procedures, Diploma Supplements, degree
  programmes descriptions, ECTS packages etc.

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Terminology (1)

• Assessment The total range of methods (written,
  oral and practical tests/examinations, projects
  and portfolios) used to evaluate learners'
  achievement of expected learning outcomes (ECTS
  Users Guide 2009)
• Assessment of learning outcomes means methods and
  processes used to established the extent to which
  a learner has in fact attained particular
  knowledge, skills and competence (Recommendation
  of the EP and of the Council on the establishment
  of ECVET dated 17.4.2009)

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Terminology (2)

• Credit (ECTS) Quantified means of expressing the
  volume of learning based on the workload students
  need in order to achieve the expected outcomes of
  a learning process at a specified level. (ECTS
  Users Guide 2009)
• The currency used to measure student workload
  in terms of the time required to achieve
  specified learning outcomes. It enables staff and
  students to assess the volume and level of
  learning, based on the achievement of learning
  outcomes and the associated workload measured in
  time. (Glossary of Tuning terms, 2006)
• Credit for learning outcomes (credit) means a
  set of learning outcomes of an individual which
  have been assessed and which can be accumulated
  towards a qualification or transferred to other
  learning programmes or qualifications
  (Recommendation of the EP and of the Council on
  the establishment of ECVET dated 17.4.2009)

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Terminology (3)

• ECVET points means a numerical representation of
  the overall weight of learning outcomes in a
  qualification and of the relative weight of units
  in relation to the qualification (Recommendation
  of the EP and of the Council on the establishment
  of ECVET dated 17.4.2009)
• Award of Credit The act of delivering learners
  the number of credits that corresponds/ are
  assigned to the component or a qualification. The
  award of credit recognises that learners
  learning outcomes have been assessed and that the
  learner satisfies the requirements for the
  educational component or the qualification. (ECTS
  Users Guide 2009)
• Allocation of Credit The process of assigning a
  number of credits to qualifications/ programmes
  or to other educational components. (ECTS Users
  Guide 2009)

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ECTS and learning outcomes (1) ECTS Users Guide
- Final Version 6 February 2009

• The allocation of credits to single educational
  components is performed as part of curriculum
  design
• with reference to national qualifications
  frameworks, level descriptors and qualifications
  descriptors in the Czech suggestion at national
  sectoral descriptors
• Generally it is the responsibility of higher
  education institutions and academic staff
• Prior to allocating credits to individual
  components, an agreement should be reached on the
  profile of the specific study programme and the
  associated learning outcomes . -its main features
  and its specific aims
• this profile is defined after consultation with
  relevant stakeholders (good practice)
• On the basis of the qualification profile, the
  academic staff design the curriculum by defining
  the learning outcomes and allocating credits to
  the programme components.
• Credit allocation to educational components is
  based on their weight in terms of the workload
  needed for students to achieve the learning
  outcomes in a formal context

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ECTS and learning outcomes (2) ECTS Users Guide
- Final Version 6 February 2009

• Possibility 1
• The teaching staff define the learning outcomes
  of each programme component, describe the
  learning activities and estimate the workload
  typically needed for a student to complete these
  activities. Proposals are collected, analysed and
  synthesised and the estimated workload is
  expressed in ECTS credits
• All the teaching staff are involved - They can
  put forward their proposals in terms of learning
  outcomes, and estimate the workload necessary to
  achieve them. Through discussion and defining of
  priorities they can come to a final decision on
  the basis of the credits available (60 for each
  year). This procedure may result in different
  numbers of credits being attributed to single
  components (e.g. 3, 5, 8)
• By using this option, institutions allow for
  maximum freedom in designing each component with
  regard to the learning outcomes and related
  workload. On the other hand, components of
  different sizes may be problematic when it comes
  to multi-disciplinary or joint programmes or
  mobility

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ECTS and learning outcomes? (3) ECTS Users Guide
- Final Version 6 February 2009

• Possibility 2
• the higher education institution or the faculty
  may decide from the start to standardise the size
  of educational components, giving each one the
  same credit value (e.g. 5) or multiples of it
  (e.g. 5, 10, 15), and thus predefine the number
  of credits to be allocated per component. In this
  case, the course units are often called modules
  
• Within this predefined structure, the teaching
  staff define appropriate and feasible learning
  outcomes and describe the learning activities, on
  the basis of the standard size of the components.
  The estimated workload must be consistent with
  the number of credits allocated to that component
  .
• By standardising the size of components,
  institutions allow for more flexible,
  multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary pathways
  among programmes. On the other hand, the
  definition of learning outcomes within a
  component is constrained by the pre-defined
  number of credits that set a priori the workload
  for each component .

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ECTS and learning outcomes? (4) ECTS Users Guide
- Final Version 6 February 2009

• Components should not be too small, to avoid
  fragmentation of a programme and not too large,
  as that may inhibit interdisciplinary studies and
  restrict the choices available within study
  programmes.
• Very large components are problematic for mobile
  students at all levels institutional, national
  or international
• The main element determining the number of
  credits is the estimated workload needed to
  achieve the expected learning outcomes. The
  number of contact hours alone must not be used as
  a basis to allocate credits, since contact hours
  are only one element of students workload.
• Proper credit allocation should be part of the
  internal and external quality assurance for
  higher education institutions.

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Further information available at

• Tuning website http//tuning.unideusto.org/tuning
  eu or www.rug.nl/let/tuningeu
• Further www.bologna.msmt.cz http//www.bologna.ms
  mt.cz/?idK080108 - http//www.bologna.msmt.cz/fil
  es/Adam_IH_LP.pdf - An introduction to learning
  outcomes
• http//www.bologna.msmt.cz/files/learning-outcomes
  .pdf - Learning and writing learning outcomes
• Web site of ENIC/NARIC http//www.enic-naric.net/
  index.aspx?snrenadqf
• UNICA website for EC projects http//www.ulb.ac.b
  e/unica/projects.html
• Thank you for your attention